They Call It the Queen of the Night
by Aerus
Summary: One hundred years after their ways parted, Alfred meets his great love again. A sequel to "A Deal with the Devil" and "Strangelove".


**Title:** They Call It the Queen of the Night

**Rating:** T

**Genre:** Drama/Romance

**Disclaimer:** _Tanz Der Vampire _and its characters belong to Roman Polanski, Jim Steinman and Michael Kunze. This fanfic is written simply for entertainment and I gain no financial profit by writing this.

**Summary:** A hundred years after their ways parted, Alfred meets his great love again. A sequel to "A Deal with the Devil" and "Strangelove".

**A/N: **And here's the continuation I promised. You could say that things didn't really go the way any of the characters would have liked; what that means will be explained in the story. This will be just an oneshot, because I felt it'd work better like this rather than as a multichaptered story. Enjoy!

* * *

The pub was nothing you could have called fine or even respectable. The furniture consisted of various unmatching pieces, some of which seemed so frail that a sneeze of particular force might just knock them down. The upholstery of the benches seemed also like the best days of this place had been long time ago - if such thing had ever been. Had Alfred been able to actually drink his wine, he wasn't sure he would have wanted to: the glass seemed dusty and he was fairly certain it hadn't been washed since the last time someone had drunk from it. The clientele also looked like they represented various levels of shadiness.

Alfred, of course, was the shadiest of them all. But then, that wasn't really something one could have deduced by looking at him. In fact, with his scrawny build and youthful, boyish face, people actually thought the exact opposite.

He hadn't come here for the sophisticated atmosphere, though. Although he had already mastered drinking from his victims without killing them, he still preferred to only feed on people he thought more deserving of serving as his dinner.

In truth, he wasn't even that hungry tonight. He could have gone couple of nights more before really feeling the pressing need to drink blood, but something had driven him out... Whether it was just wanting to hear human sounds around him or to find some solace by feeding and that one glorious moment when the blood would fill him, he wasn't sure.

Perhaps, in the end, it was just fate... even if it was foolish for a vampire to think like that.

Be it as may, he was fingering the base of his glass and considering one particularly nasty-looking man when the door of the bar was opened and a cold wind breathed in. However, it wasn't the icy air that made him freeze on the spot but rather the presence he hadn't felt in over 100 years.

It had been a long time since they had last seen each other, but Alfred would still have known the other one anywhere. Everything in him screamed to turn around, to leap from his seat and throw himself in the arms of the older vampire while sobbing incoherent love confessions. But he held himself in place and spent a long moment just trying to convince himself it was a pure accident that _he _had ventured into the same pub as him, and it was the best if he didn't react in any way.

"_I do not wish to see your face again." _Those had been the exact words, and they had never quite stopped hurting. And he knew he would not be able to bear it if he turned now and saw only cold hatred on that face he had so much wanted to see for every night of past hundred years.

For a second, he expected to door be opened again and the familiar presence disappear again into the cold winter night, but instead the stool beside him was pulled back and a tall shape, dressed in dark, sat down. Had Alfred's heart still been beating, he was convinced it'd have stopped.

"Good evening, Alfred", came the quiet greeting. How had he longed for that voice!

"Evening, Johannes", he whispered, finally turning to really look at the Count von Krolock.

The older vampire hadn't changed one bit, but it wasn't like Alfred had expected that. The long, silky hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail, and the pale face was just as smooth and strangely elegant in its gauntness as the last time Alfred had looked upon him. Under his long coat, he was wearing a black three-pieced suit with a dark red shirt, and he looked every bit as threatening and sublime as he had the last time they had seen each other. Yet it was somehow odd to see the aristocrat dressed in such modern way – without his flowing cloak, he didn't look as large as Alfred remembered. His old rings were in place, however, reminding the younger one of times past.

"What brings you here, in this city?" Alfred asked after a long moment of just watching the other. If his wide-eyed staring bothered the Count, it didn't show, which was surprising because the older man had never particularly liked to be looked at so intently. In fact, Alfred didn't sense any hostility, which confused and unnerved him, especially when he remembered their last parting. This did not seem to make any sense.

"Herbert thinks I need to get out more, so he dragged me out for a holiday. If you asked him, he'd tell you that we are touring the great cities of the continent", the Count said. The bartender stopped then to look at him with apathetic eyes and he smoothly ordered _"whatever my friend here is having". _

"I didn't think I'd see you here", the younger vampire said quietly.

"Why is that?" the Count said, watching Alfred from the corner of his eye.

"First of all, you don't look like you belong in this kind of place... and I... I believed you would not want to see me", Alfred said slowly. Krolock regarded him quietly for a while and then sighed.

"Hmm. You truly did take my words to your heart, didn't you?" he commented. "I didn't expect them to have such powerful impact."

"I don't understand", the younger vampire said with a frown. The other one made a sound between a snort and a chuckle.

"Isn't it obvious? I always thought it was, at least. I had to make sure you'd leave... so I told you the exact thing I knew you feared the most – and would hurt you the most", the Count answered slowly and lowered his eyes to look down on his pale bony hands. "Or was it that I struck you? Then again, I suppose it means little now..."

"You mean... you lied? That you didn't do it because you had grown tired of me?" Alfred whispered.

"What else could it have been than a lie? To be honest, I am good in making people think what I want them to think, but I was still amazed by how you didn't express even the slightest suspicion... especially after my behavior before I sent you away", the Count said and turned his head so that at last their eyes met properly. The younger vampire had never really forgotten the vivid blue of those eyes - the shade that could be so brilliant or so cold.

"Why did you lie?" Alfred asked, his voice trembling. Had all that pain and longing been for nothing? "Why did you make me leave?"

He tried to feel anger and betrayal, but he realized he couldn't – not when the older vampire looked at him with such sadness... not when he was so glad to see _him. _

"Because I thought you'd be better off without me. I wished a life for you – the kind you dreamt of – and knew that in order to have it, you needed to leave me", Johannes said at length, with a slight frown, as if speaking those words was somehow difficult. "Believe me, I only did what I thought was the best for you."

"But... I don't understand. How would that have been better for me?" Alfred asked. He frowned now, but didn't turn his gaze away. Somehow (and irrationally) he felt like the older man would disappear if he looked away from him, even if it was just for a moment.

"I did not want to watch you become a bitter old man while I remained unchanging. I'd have rather seen you live a normal human life than waste your years with me", the Count said quietly and lowered his gaze to regard the wooden counter.

"I wouldn't have thought of it as waste", Alfred argued hotly. "It wouldn't have mattered even if I hadn't had a big family or anything like that – a life in the castle, with you, would have been enough."

"You really think that?" the older vampire asked, but he didn't sound too convinced.

"I do! I would have made that sacrifice _for you_, I'd have lived with it, and I'd have loved you all the more because of it! If you had just trusted me! Why couldn't you trust me?" Alfred very nearly exclaimed. Tears burned his eyes, and he had to fight to keep from crying: blood running down his face was not something that would have been easily explained to the humans around.

"It wasn't about trust", the Count said with a sigh. The younger vampire would so very much liked to be angry and shout and rant, but then he realized it'd have been for nothing. Outrage would change nothing, and this reunion was too precious for him to waste by arguing about things long past.

"Did you miss me, at least?" he asked, trying to swallow the lump from his throat.

"I did", Johannes answered in a serious tone. "But I thought you were living your life like you were meant to and did not wish to interfere. Any sight of me would just have made you doubt how sincere exactly I was when I ordered you to leave."

"Herbert never told you what he did", Alfred finally realized.

"He did, eventually. I was... very angry with him. Probably angrier than I've ever really been. But then I understood he was only trying to help... in his own way, even if it was misguided", Krolock said slowly. "Only, I see he didn't tell me the whole truth."

"What do you mean?" the other one asked.

"He said you were nothing like what you had been before. That you were a beast I wouldn't recognize, so he never brought you back to the castle... he thought it better for me if I believed you had gone your way and were living happily somewhere. Truly, I've never seen that boy regret anything so much as he has regretted turning you. He was certain he hadn't succeeded in pulling you through", the Count said and looked at his companion with sharp eyes. "Which is the reason I'm quite surprised to find you so like your old self."

"Well, I _was _a beast for many years. But one night, I just... I suppose you could say I just woke up and realized what I'd become. I was _me _again", Alfred muttered quietly. "And... it probably doesn't matter now, but my first coherent thought was of you."

"You never thought of coming back?"

"I did think of it. I thought about it very much, actually. But I never managed to gather my courage to face you... I was convinced you wouldn't want to see me, and I didn't think I could stand another rejection", he said softly and looked at the man sitting beside him. The weight of wasted years was heavy and bitter. And to think of how differently everything could have gone...

The Count sighed and met Alfred's eyes again.

"I did not wish to send you away. I did not. But more than I did not want you gone, I was unable to live feeling like that", he said, sounding very serious and somehow a bit weary.

"Like what?" Alfred asked.

"Like... a human", the older vampire said, and there was a reluctant tone to his voice, like this was something he didn't really want to admit. "Believe it or not, but you did succeed in resurrecting some of the humanity I had already lost long ago before you came along."

"So the monster _was _transformed", Alfred said quietly. It was difficult to believe, but he didn't think the Count would be telling him this if it wasn't true. In fact, he wasn't so sure why his beloved was telling it at all.

"I suppose you could say that, however briefly", the other one commented with a grimace. "But I am not like you. As much I'd like to care like humans do, in the end I cannot do that."

A long silence fell between them, and Alfred tried to desperately come up with something to say. Yet he sat silent. He had imagined their reunion for thousand times – this exact thing where all had been just a terrible misunderstanding – but now that the dream he had deemed crazy and impossible had suddenly come true, all he could do was to stare at his great love, as if the tall aristocrat could disappear any moment now and all Alfred would be left with was the familiar ache in his unbeating heart.

After a while, the Count turned to look at him again.

"Are you very angry with me, Alfred?" Krolock asked.

"I'm not. Mostly, I'm just sad", the younger vampire said quietly.

"I am sorry", Johannes said in a soft voice and the words seemed so very strange coming from him. As far Alfred could tell, he seemed to be sincere about his apology too. There was such honesty about him... such strange warmth, so uncharacteristic - especially for a vampire.

He had truly wished for his lover's best.

"It's all right. I may very well disagree with your reasoning but I do see where you are coming from", Alfred said at length and glanced at the Count's hand, and a need to touch it quickly passed through him. But he wasn't sure they were anymore on that level of intimacy they had shared when he had been alive.

Another long moment of muteness passed between them until the older one spoke again.

"Have you been alone all this time?" Krolock asked.

"I've had my share of companions over the years", Alfred answered slowly. "And I suppose I wasn't always completely unhappy... but those things always ended sooner or later. I... I never really stopped searching for you in them. I never stopped looking for _you._ In the end, no one could really compare."

"That is... I didn't expect that. I'd have thought you'd have moved on long ago", Johannes said, sounding a bit surprised.

"I tried. You don't know just how much I did... But no matter how hard I try, I cannot forget about you. Actually, the harder I try, the more I yearn for you to be with me. It's cruel and unfair, both to me and anyone I might ever love, but I can't help it. I can't not love you... I can't not long for your presence", Alfred spoke softly, not daring to look at the man sitting beside him.

The older vampire sat quietly for a long while, and when he spoke again, there was thinly veiled amazement in his voice.

"A vampire with a human's heart. You truly are a wonder, Alfred. Then again, perhaps I should have known", he said, moving his hand on the wooden desk just slightly towards his companion. The younger one moved his hand too, until its side was brushing against the Count's – a real, physical proof that the one he had loved and longed for so much was really there with him. It was all he could do from jumping the older man.

"I hate it too. I still wish I could be more like you and Herbert", he said softly. Yes, that would have made his life a lot easier.

"But then you wouldn't be Alfred", Krolock said, repeating the words he had spoken very long time ago in a world that seemed millions of light-years away now. "And if you weren't Alfred, I never would have..."

"You never would have exactly what?" the younger vampire asked, his voice barely more than a whisper, though it was still eager. The other one's voice was plain as he spoke again.

"I'd never have loved you."

Alfred let out a long, shaky breath. Long ago, he had dreamed of this confession and wished to hear it so much that it had made his very core hurt – now, when it was finally uttered, it felt like someone had gripped his heart and was attempting to squeeze it until it burst.

"I love you too", he said in a small, weak voice. "Always have. Always will."

* * *

"You two. I really don't like the look of you", came a low, slightly threatening voice from behind them after some time – it could have been years for Alfred knew, as he had been too preoccupied by just trying to grip this moment. He had barely time to look over his shoulder and see the burly, shady-looking man whose entire being promised nothing good before the older vampire beside him already acted. Still as intolerant of others trying to overpower him as ever, the Count grabbed the stranger's hand with one quick, cat-like motion. If anything could be deduced of the snapping sound, he was attempting to crush the man's fingers.

The burly stranger yowled in pain and tried to pull back his hand, but Krolock's iron grip didn't falter. If anything, a cold glitter of cruel amusement flashed in his blue eyes.

"Did you hear something, Alfred? I think there was this whining sound but am not certain", he said with cool smoothness.

"Johannes!" the younger vampire exclaimed in shock. "Stop that!"

He didn't expect his words to have any effect, because the older man never did anything he was told to do, but then the Count's eyes became softer and he let the man's hand go.

"Fine. I believe it's the time we left anyway", he said and stood up, easily towering over the man who had so disturbed them. The human was grimacing but he did back off to his own company – all of whom had risen up too. A brief smile, kind of wolfish actually, flashed on the Count's face and then he headed for the door. Alfred considered offering some sort of apology, but then decided to hurry after the older vampire: he didn't Krolock disappear before... well, he wasn't certain exactly before _what, _but he did know he didn't want their ways to part yet.

Once outside, Alfred looked at his companion with a disapproving face.

"That was unnecessary", he informed the older vampire. The Count smirked.

"Perhaps. But it was still entertaining", he said smugly. "And hopefully, it secured a dinner for us tonight."

"You often go and get yourself into arguments in the hopes of getting a snack?" Alfred asked, his voice sharper than he had intended.

"Sometimes, if I am on the mood. Do save me from that moralizing tone, though. It's ridiculous coming from a vampire", Krolock snorted and began striding for the alley beside the pub.

"Hmph. I had forgotten how annoying you could be", the younger one muttered. He had to speed up to keep up with the Count.

"Don't walk so fast! Or weren't you talking something about dinner? Are you maybe hoping it'll run after us or something? You have some really strange ideas about hunting, you know", he said then. Johannes stopped and looked at Alfred.

"Truly, you don't _have _to follow me if you find me so irritating", he said sharply, which made the younger vampire wince. This reunion wasn't going at all like he'd have hoped.

"Or you could stop acting like that!" he retorted. "One could think you aren't happy at all to see me!"

The older vampire was going to comment something to that, but never got an opportunity. Three men from the pub – amongst them one whose hand Krolock had nearly broken – stepped into the alley.

"It wasn't such a good idea to do that. Do you have any idea of who we are?" the man asked, staring quite hatefully at the Count. The vampire merely lifted his eyebrows and then glanced at Alfred.

"It looks like our dinner has arrived", he said lightly as a slow and unsettling half-smile appeared on his face. Well, it would have been unsettling had the younger vampire been actually a living man.

"I suppose there's no chance they can be left alive?" Alfred asked with a sigh.

"No chance at all. I believe neither of us would want them running about, telling stories about our eating habits", Krolock said smoothly. Then his eyes focused on the man who had just spoken. "I have absolutely no idea as to who you are and why I should even care, but I have a feeling you're about to educate me on that matter..."

Alfred had never really taken particular pleasure in hunting – not after he had regained his self-control. True, even he wasn't immune to the incredible feeling that drinking always caused, but everything leading to and after it seemed disgusting to him. So when he attacked, he kind of just shut himself out and stopped thinking... allowing the monster take over. Yet when he laid his victim down on the ground and closed the eyes that would see no more, he still felt the bangs of guilt. Like his habit was, he whispered a quiet _"I'm so sorry", _although he knew it really counted for nothing.

When he was done, the Count was just finishing the second man. It was odd watching him feed on the violently convulsing human: from so many years ago, Alfred remembered how tender and intimate it could be... how many times had he rested in those arms while the Count had slowly and carefully drank his blood? But then, feeding was first and foremost a way for vampire to sustain themselves, and what Alfred had experienced then had been very rare.

Having already had his fill, Krolock snapped his victim's neck in order not to leave any loose mouths talking about what had happened here. There was blood on his mouth and chin, and his expression was something one could only have described as primal. However, the beast was quickly hid behind sophistication again as he straightened his clothes and smoothed down his hair that had come loose during feeding. It appeared he was just as good as ever in hiding his true nature.

"Well, that was refreshing, don't you think?" he commented lightly.

"It was... nothing special", Alfred said quietly. The older vampire regarded silently for a moment.

"A vampire with human heart. I see", the Count said, repeating his words from earlier. Quietly, he approached the younger vampire. Catching Alfred's chin in his hand, he looked down with a curious expression. "How do you live like this?"

"I don't know. I just do", Alfred answered. Suddenly, he felt very small and weak and all he could think of was how much he just wanted the older vampire to take him in his arms.

"Poor, brave Alfred..." the Count sighed quietly, and then – _finally – _he lowered his face and kissed the younger one. And dear heavens above, it was as if Alfred was immediately taken back hundred years ago, to that time he considered the happiest of his life... The kiss was everything he remembered and had longed for, everything he had tried to find after their story had ended, and the blood on the older vampire's lips and mouth only made it better... The old fire was still there and Alfred welcomed it's sweet burning. He jumped against Johannes and was grabbed into a tight embrace, and he never wanted to let go. In fact, he was certain he'd die on the spot if he had to.

After some time, the older vampire pulled back.

"We should probably move. Someone is bound to notice this mess and at least I'd rather not try to explain it", he said, sounding a bit hoarse.

"My apartment isn't far from here", Alfred mumbled, his voice equally breathless. The older vampire mutely nodded and followed him as he guided the other one from the alley.

The way back to his quarters seemed to take forever even if the distance wasn't that long. Every now and then, he'd throw glances at his companion, who followed him silently, the expression on that pale face unreadable once again. Alfred considered reading the Count's mind but then decided against it; that might send the wrong message. If anything, he wanted the older vampire to know he was glad to have him here.

At the door of his apartment, Alfred stopped and hesitated for a moment. His two bedroom apartment was very meagre when compared to the Castle von Krolock. For a moment, he was actually sort of scared the older vampire would laugh at his living conditions, but he managed to shake off that silly thought and he unlocked the door, letting his guest in.

True, it _was _meagre. He didn't have much furniture since it'd only be a hindrance when he'd move out (which was bound to happen sooner or later), and considering that, the flat was much too big. Then again, he liked the sense of space about him. He didn't have many possessions that he held dear and took along whenever he'd move, but the modern recordings of some of the songs Krolock had liked to play on violin when he had still lived in the castle were one of those few things. Sometimes, when he listened to those recordings and closed his eyes, he could almost imagine he was still in the castle.

The older vampire wandered in quietly, regarding his surroundings with an expression that didn't betray what he thought of it. In the living room, he passed the old sofa and the stereo by it, briefly studying the lone orchid sitting on the windowsill, until he finally spotted the only adornment on the white walls. It was a drawing of the castle, picturing the dark silhouette of the large, ancient building. A crescent moon hovered over the lands and a narrow path, almost luminous, lead up to towards the great gate. If you only looked it fleetingly, you wouldn't see it: a pale-faced, dark shape on the front of the castle, beckoning to follow...

"That is... very good actually", the older vampire commented after examining the drawing for some time.

"I've had lot of time to practice", Alfred answered and also looked at the picture. It was one of his favourites too. Krolock really didn't need to know of the countless of drawings of himself... Perhaps that wasn't the best way to spend one's time – or the healthiest – but then, he was a vampire. It was silly to think what was a wholesome way to pass his time when his very existence depended on drinking the blood of the living.

He sighed then, and not having it in himself to resist any longer, he wrapped his arms carefully around the taller man's midsection. Burying his face in the other's back, he let himself be lost in this moment for a while... he could almost feel himself resurrected, and be that young man again. His memory summoned the sights and sounds and smells of long time ago; the crackling of fire, the smell of wood and candles, the faint sound of the violin, how it felt to fall asleep in the master bedchamber of the castle...

It had been a strange love – strange enough to survive the distance of time and space.

After the longest moment, Johannes turned around and lifted up Alfred's chin so that their eyes met.

"Really, why do you love me? We could not be more different – there should be nothing in me that you could hold dear. And you're so human, even after all this time. Alfred, why do you love me so?" he asked. This seemed to genuinely confuse him.

"I... I don't know. It never really made much sense... but I suppose it has something to do how... how you were so many things I wanted to be. Confident, smart, unfearing, strong, and always so in control of yourself and others... When I was with you, I felt so alive. And you made me feel like I was enough, even if I was clumsy and silly and didn't always know what to do with myself. You made me feel brave", the younger vampire said quietly. It was not painful to admit that, although it wasn't something he'd have been able to put into words before this moment. But he felt it was true and it made the pain of their separation ache inside his chest when he thought of what he had lost.

A sad smile appeared on the Count's face, and perhaps he felt the same as the younger vampire did.

"Dear Alfred... after all these years, you still haven't recognized your own worth! In a different world and a different life, I think the human I once was would very much have liked to be more of your kind..." he said quietly, cupping Alfred's face in one of his hands.

"But not you", the younger one stated. Oddly enough, it stung. Yet he still leaned into the older vampire's touch, letting out only the smallest of sighs.

"No. Not me", Krolock agreed.

Alfred placed his hand on the Count's hand, searching for the other one's eyes.

"Will you stay with me tonight?" he asked quietly. He tried to keep the pleading tone from his voice, but it was hard. It was strange, how he was still so attached in many ways, and how he would probably always be...

_Stay, and never leave. _

Johannes' eyes became softer as he gazed silently at Alfred. Then, slowly, he wrapped one arm around the younger one.

His kiss was all the answer Alfred needed. When he pulled back, holding his companion by the back of his neck, he looked at the other vampire.

"I never asked... How does it feel, to have the Devil love you?" he asked softly.

"Like... I was the most damned of them all, yet still the most blessed... like I will fall, and fall again, and it'll never be enough", Alfred whispered, clinging tight to the taller man's frame.

"Then we will fall together once more, Alfred..."

* * *

Alfred woke up some time after sunset. Years had made him used to the gradual return from death, how he kind of just was switched on again... but he remembered how scary it had been when he had been younger.

At first, he thought the older vampire would be there, beside him but not quite touching. So without opening his eyes, he searched for a hand or a limb or _something _from that place where the Count should have been, but instead found nothing. The bed was empty except for Alfred himself.

Slowly, he sat up and looked around. He expected to hear the sound of shower or the quiet moving in the sitting room, but his apartment was as silent as ever. The only clothes scattered on the floor were his own.

Finally, his mind and senses started working again and his eyes fell on a piece of paper that had been placed on the pillow by his own. With trembling hands, Alfred picked up the folded paper and opened it.

Some years ago, he had remembered something Johannes had said on that night when Alfred had first shown him the garden. The older vampire had spoken of a special flower...

When Alfred had remembered those words, he had gone to the local library. After some searching among the endless corridors, he had found a book on exotic flowers. He couldn't remember the exact page any more, but he had stood staring at the picture of the flower for a long time. He had memorized the sight and that was why he immediately recognized the drawing.

There was no message, but words were not needed. Krolock had known he'd understand – that he'd remember the words uttered so long ago. With the picture of Queen of the Night, Johannes had left all the words and explanations Alfred needed to know.

"_Do you know that there is a flower that only blooms for one night? It's said to be quite beautiful... They call it the Queen of the Night."_

* * *

_FIN.  
_


End file.
